Buddha Shakyamuni and Scenes of His Previous Lives (Jataka Tales) Mug

This ancient 16th-century painting depicts a rare subject in Tibetan art, the life of Buddha Shakyamuni and his previous incarnations as told in the Jataka tales. These stories form an essential component of Buddhist cosmology. This tangka has a Chinese inscription dating the work to the reign of the Wanli emperor (r. 1573–1619) of the Ming dynasty as well as Tibetan glosses identifying the scenes depicted. The glosses indicate that this tangka was made for a Tibetan client. Depicted around the central icon of a radiant Buddha is a series of scenes, each with mountains and monastic buildings serving as scene dividers. Both Jatakas depicted recount the bodhisattva’s self-sacrifice.